Amazon's Jeff Bezos Is The First Person Ever To Be Worth More Than $200 Billion

Forbes: Jeff Bezos Becomes The First Person Ever Worth $200 Billion

The world's richest person, Jeff Bezos, is wealthier than he's ever been. Early Wednesday he crossed a milestone previously unseen in the nearly four decades Forbes has been tracking net worths: With Amazon stock edging up 2% as of Wednesday afternoon, Bezos' net worth is up by $4.9 billion, making the 56-year-old the world's first-ever person to amass a $200 billion fortune.

As of 1:50 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, the Amazon founder and CEO is worth $204.6 billion—nearly $90 billion more than the world's second-richest person, Bill Gates, who's currently worth $116.1 billion.

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Update #1: Jeff Bezos is now worth more than $200 billion (CNBC)
Update #2: Jeff Bezos is now worth a whopping $200 billion (CNN)

WNU Editor: Where I live (Montreal), I would estimate that about a third of storefronts and a slightly higher number of stores in shopping malls are now empty. And these closures are growing. But Amazon and large store chains like Home Depot, Costco, Walmart, and others are booming. IMHO this is not a healthy trend for society as a whole.

The Top 25 Companies In The World

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Foreign Policy: These 25 Companies Are More Powerful Than Many Countries

Going stateless to maximize profits, multinational companies are vying with governments for global power. Who is winning?

At first glance, the story of Accenture reads like the archetype of the American dream. One of the world’s biggest consulting companies, which commands tens of billions of dollars in annual revenues, was born in the 1950s as a small division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen. Its first major project was advising General Electric to install a computer at a Kentucky facility in order to automate payment processing. Several decades of growth followed, and by 1989, the division was successful enough to become its own organization: Andersen Consulting.

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WNU Editor: As long as multinational companies have products and services that the public wants and demands .... their position in the global economy will always be secure.

Iran Has Released The Maersk Cargo Ship That It Seized Last Week

Reuters: Maersk Tigris ship released by Iran, crew safe

Iran has released a Marshall-Islands flagged container ship and its crew which were seized last month in one of the world's major oil shipping lanes, the vessel's operator said on Thursday.

The vessel was diverted on April 28 by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting the United States to send vessels to monitor the situation and to accompany U.S.-flagged vessels passing through the strait.

Iran had said the vessel would be let go once a years-old debt case with the ship's charterer Maersk Line was settled.

WNU Editor: That was fast ... but understandable. Iran does not want to completely spook the world's shipping companies that wold make them avoid Iran .... and the shipping companies want to continue doing business with Iran.

Iran Has Released The Maersk Cargo Ship That It Seized Last Week

Iran releases Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship -- Press TV
Iran says it has released the cargo ship it seized last week -- CNN
Iran releases seized Maersk cargo ship -- AFP
Cargo Ship Seized by Iran Released, Operator Says -- AP
Iran Releases Marshall Islands Cargo Ship Seized in Strait of Hormuz -- ABC News

Why Are The Gold Bugs Fleeing The U.S.?

U.S. Exports A Record Amount Of Gold To Hong Kong In January -- Zero Hedge

The figures are out and it looks like the United States exported a record amount of gold to Hong Kong in January. Not only was this a one month record… it was a WHOPPER indeed.

Last year, the U.S. exported a total of 215 metric tons of gold bullion to Hong Kong. This was not the total amount of gold exported to Hong Kong as some smaller quantities of Dore’ and precipitates made their way into the country as well.

However, Hong Kong received more gold than any other country… Switzerland came in second at 150 metric tons. The table below shows the breakdown in U.S. Gold Bullion exports in 2013:

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My Comment: I always follow the gold markets not because I am an investor (I am not), but because the flow of where gold is going to (and leaving) has always been a good indicator to me on future political/economic/national security trends. In this case .... everyone is bailing out of the U.S. .... especially now. What do the people with enormous amounts of money know that everyone else does not know (yet) .... that is an answer that I am always looking for.

A Sign Of The Times

Google, which became the world’s largest online advertiser through its dominant search engine, has a market capitalization of $393.5 billion. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Google Briefly Tops Exxon As Second-Most Valuable Company -- Bloomberg Businessweek

Google Inc. (GOOG:US) briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM:US) as the second-most valuable company, trailing only Apple (AAPL:US) Inc. and underscoring the growing role of technology in the economy.

Google, which became the world’s largest online advertiser through its dominant search engine, had a higher market capitalization during intraday trading today before falling back at the close in New York to a value of $395.4 billion compared to Exxon’s $395.7 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Apple had a market value of $463.5 billion. Software company Microsoft Corp. is No. 4 with $303.5 billion.

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My Comment: Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York is right ..... “It’s the sign of the times .... out with the old and in with the new.”